Colorado Tesla dealership vandalized with "offensive" graffiti, broken glass in third attack in 2 weeks, police say
A Tesla dealership in Northern Colorado was roped off by Loveland police on Friday after reports of vandalism. Photos and video taken at the dealership showed several Cybertrucks and other Teslas with red spray paint across the windshields and broken glass in the lot.
The Loveland Police Department said it's investigating the incident at 1606 North Lincoln Avenue as an act of vandalism and attempted arson that occurred around midnight on Thursday night or Friday morning.
"Various vehicles and the Tesla building were vandalized with graffiti, some of which were offensive and hateful in nature," the Loveland Police Department said in a statement. Similar incidents occurred at the dealership on Jan. 29 and Feb. 2, "however, these incidents were of lesser magnitude than today's," the department said.
Loveland police have since asked the FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives for assistance.
Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Teslas are equipped with eight or nine cameras, depending on model and year, that record the exterior of the car. While it's unclear if the cars in Colorado had the cameras on and recording, there have been at least two instances of people keying Teslas in Colorado that led to the arrests of the people accused of keying them -- one in Broomfield in 2019 and another in Thornton in 2021.
The company and individual Tesla owners have seen instances of alleged vandalism in the last few months, with local news outlets reporting incidents of vandalism to Tesla vehicles -- both at dealerships and in public -- in Florida, Oregon, Canada, and Australia.
Elon Musk -- the company's owner and richest person on earth, whose net worth is estimated at around $500 billion -- has been under scrutiny and on the receiving end of criticism in recent months and weeks for a variety of statements he's made, along with his support of President Trump and the German far-right AfD party, as well as establishing the Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE. Musk has characterized DOGE as a "cost-cutting" tool for government spending, but raised concerns with transparency advocates, both in and out of government.
Since kicking into gear on Jan. 20, DOGE has prompted several lawsuits and raised alarms from Democratic lawmakers and consumer advocates after it gained access to the Treasury Department's payment system, which stores personal data for most Americans.
Critics of DOGE also say that Musk, who runs SpaceX, which receives billions of dollars in government contracts, could be engaged in work through DOGE that may pose conflicts of interest with his private businesses, such as potentially gaining access to data about competitors' federal contracts.
In December, Musk responded to a note a Portland resident said was taped to his car, allegedly warning him about possible vandalism to it. In a reply on X, which Musk owns, he tweeted, "Anyone who vandalizes a Tesla will have a criminal record. Go ahead, make my day;" the second half of which is an apparent reference to the 1983 film "Sudden Impact," in the "Dirty Harry" series, starring Clint Eastwood.
CBS News producer Cesareo Sifuentes contributed to this report.
